The invention relates to an apparatus for transmitting a torque from a drive shaft for a component of a printing machine to a hollow body surrounding the drive shaft, including a coupling configuration formed through the use of driver elements, longitudinally displaceably engaging the drive shaft and coupling the latter to the hollow body. The invention also relates to a sheet-processing machine, in particular a printing machine, through which the sheets pass in a processing direction, including a number of components to be positioned by displacing the latter transversely to the processing direction and to be driven by a respective apparatus for transmitting a torque through the use of a drive shaft common to the components.
An apparatus of the above-described type is known, for example, from European Patent EP 0 708 045 B1. A drive shaft disclosed therein is used to drive a component which forms a side-pull device of a printing machine. The side-pull device can be adjusted transversely to the direction of passage of sheets passing through the printing machine in order to adjust its position in relation to the sheets. The pulling mechanism of the side-pull device is connected to the drive shaft by a coupling configuration. The coupling configuration includes a hollow body which surrounds the drive shaft and is in the form of a clamping ring with two driver elements, secured opposite one another thereon. The driver elements are in the form of sliding blocks which engage in mutually opposite longitudinal slots in the drive shaft and thus couple the latter to the clamping ring of the side-pull device, which can be adjusted in the longitudinal direction of the drive shaft. The sliding blocks and the longitudinal slots are thus dimensioned and disposed relative to one another in such a way that the sliding blocks engage in the drive shaft while leaving a radial clearance relative to the drive shaft and a clearance in the circumferential direction of the drive shaft.
In that case, a respective clearance has a magnitude permitting the drive shaft to be displaced eccentrically by a certain amount relative to the clamping ring. The known apparatus is therefore suitable for an application in which the drive shaft is not in alignment with a body of revolution that surrounds the latter and to which a torque is transmitted by the drive shaft, in particular when the torque is at a constant value during operation.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for transmitting a torque and a sheet-processing printing machine, which overcome the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type and which are configured in such a way that their area of application can be extended to cases where the torque to be transmitted is not constant during operation, i.e. to cases where rotating and/or circulating elements of a component, in particular a printing machine, may at times circulate at constant speed but are always subject to accelerations and decelerations.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an apparatus for transmitting a torque from a drive shaft for a component of a printing machine to a hollow body surrounding the drive shaft, comprising a coupling configuration, the coupling configuration having driver elements, longitudinally displaceably engaging the drive shaft and coupling the drive shaft to the hollow body, and the coupling configuration having a coupling ring surrounding the drive shaft; the driver elements divided into a first subgroup and a second subgroup; the first subgroup of driver elements coupling the drive shaft to the coupling ring for displacing the drive shaft eccentrically relative to the coupling ring in and counter to a first direction; and the second subgroup of driver elements coupling the coupling ring to the hollow body for displacing the coupling ring eccentrically relative to the hollow body in and counter to a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.
With the objects of the invention in view, there is also provided an apparatus for transmitting a torque from a drive shaft for a component of a printing machine to a hollow body surrounding the drive shaft, the drive shaft having a circumferential direction and an axis of rotation, comprising a coupling configuration having driver elements, longitudinally displaceably engaging the drive shaft and coupling the drive shaft to the hollow body; the driver elements coupling the drive shaft directly to the hollow body, and the driver elements constructed to be resilient in an at least substantially radial direction and in the circumferential direction of the drive shaft, relative to the axis of rotation of the drive shaft.
Through the use of an apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention, shocks which can occur in the known apparatus described above when the torque to be transmitted changes in the course of operation of the apparatus due to acceleration and deceleration phases, are avoided in particular. The reason for this is that the driver elements can be fitted in without leaving a clearance in the circumferential direction. The apparatus according to the invention can be used in an advantageous manner particularly for those components of a printing machine which can be adjusted to different working positions along a drive shaft common to the components and, for this purpose, are connected to a straight-line guide device which does not make use of the drive shaft. With this configuration, shock-free torque transmission is possible even in the case of a drive shaft which is relatively long and may be bent under its own weight.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the driver elements have a rigid construction. In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the driver elements are formed integrally on the coupling ring. In both cases, the result is also, in particular, in-phase rotary motion of the drive shaft and the hollow body.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, the first subgroup of driver elements has a rigid construction and the second subgroup of driver elements is constructed to be resilient relative to the coupling ring in an at least substantially radial direction. In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, the second subgroup of driver elements is also constructed to be resilient in the tangential direction as well.
With the objects of the invention in view, there is additionally provided a sheet-processing printing machine, comprising a number of components to be positioned by displacing the components, the components each having a hollow body; a drive shaft common to the components and surrounded by the hollow body of each of the components; and a number of apparatuses for driving the components and transmitting a torque from the drive shaft to the hollow body of each of the components, each of the apparatuses having a coupling configuration as described above.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in an apparatus for transmitting a torque and a sheet-processing printing machine, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.